Driving in France with foreign licence – what are the rules? | Sofime le blog

Driving in France with foreign licence – what are the rules?

Résultat de recherche d'images pour "conduire emoticone"Driving in France with foreign driving licence is possible, but be careful, the rules are changing depending on the duration of your stay and the issuing country of the driving licence.

If you are french or foreigner, holding a driving licence issuing by a country from European Union or member of the Espace économique européen (EEE): you can drive in France with your European driving licence, with no time limitation as soon as your driving licence is valide.

If you are french or foreigner, holding a driving licence non European, rules are different, depending on the duration of your stay:

  • Short stay (for hollidays for example), you can drive with your foreign driving licence and a traduction in french done by a sworn translator or a international driving licence.
  • Installation in France: you must exchange your driving licence for a french licence, maximum 1 year after your arrival. The exchange is possible in condition that you lived at lease 6 months in the issuing country of your driving licence and if the issuing country has a agreement with France. List of country with agreement is visible here.
  • Special case: foreign students in France, holding a titre de séjour étudiant, can drive in France with their foreign driving licence and a traduction in french done by a sworn translator or a international driving licence, during their studies in France.

 

Anyway, whatever which driving licence you are holding, don’t forget that you must drive on the right in France 😉 !

Drive safe!

Agathe